NUCLEUS FOR INDIGENOUS RIGHTS WINS ANOTHER BATTLE AGAINST THE
LOGGING COMPANIES OF THE STATE OF PARA
FEDERAL JUSTICE PROHIBITS ACCESS TO THE "XIKRIM FROM THE CATETE
RIVER INDIGENOUS AREA"
On April 5th, the judge of the 12th Federal Court in Braslia, Dr. Maria de
Fatima de Paula Pessoa Costa, granted an injunction prohibiting two logging
companies, BANNACH and PERACHI from illegally exploiting hardwood, mainly
mahogany, inside the "Xikrim from the Catete River Indigenous Area", located
at the Parauapebas municipality, in the southern part of the state of Para.
The two logging companies, BANNACH and PERACHI, which are based in the state
of Para, have been illegally extracting hardwood from that Indian area since
1989. The governmental agencies in charge of the protection of Indian
areas, FUNAI (The bureau for Indian affairs) and IBAMA (the one for
environmentalJprotection), did not adopt any effective measure to punish
those who were responsible for that criminal activities, although they were
aware of them the whole time.
The Xikrim Area is inhabited by some 600 Xikrim Indians. It has a large
variety of forest resources, which are unfortunately disappearing because of
BANNACH's and PERACHI's logging activities. Only during the last four years
when the area was being exploited, approximately 80,000 cubic meters of
mahogany were cut from its forest- which gives an idea of the proportion of
the destruction.
In order to make their activities easier inside the Indian territory, the
two logging companies managed to involve some of the Xikrim representatives,
offering them goods and services that in fact should be provided by the
government, in exchange of their compliance with the logging activites.
Fortunately, the Xikrim Indians realized that they were being misled by the
logging companies. They were able to verify that the goods and services
received had no significance in comparison to the value and the amount of
hardwood extracted from their lands, and also that the loss caused by the
environmental damages was too serious.
The injunction was granted in the "Acao Civil Publica" ( a legal procedure
similar to the U.S. citizens suit) filed by the Nucleus for Indigenous
Rights, a non-profit NGO based in Brasilia, prohibiting the exploitation of
mahogany by the two logging companies and also determining that IBAMA, FUNAI
and the Federal Police interdict every kink of exploitation in the Xikrim
area.
The Federal Judge's ruling is extremely important because it brings to an
end BANNACH's and PERACHI's impunity. Over the years, the two logging
companies have been enriching at the costs of the Indian patrimony.
The Nucleus for Indigenous Rights also intends that, at the end, BANNACH and
PERACHI be condemned to pay for all expenses necessary to the environmental
recovery of the Xikrim Area, which could result in an indemnity of over 20
million dollars.
For the past two years, besides reacting against the logging companies'
attempt to invade their area, the Xikrim from the Catete River have been
trying to develop economic alternatives to the predatory exploitation of
their forest resources. They have made an inventory of their land resources
and, from 1994 on, they will be implementing sustainable management plans of
their forest products. In this project, they are being assisted by the
Ecumenical Center for Documentation and Information (CEDI) and by the
anthropologist Isabelle Giannini. The project has the support of FUNAI and
the "Companhia Vale do Rio Doce" (CVRD).
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